Life, 1918-05-16 · page 29 of 40
Life — May 16, 1918 — page 29: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a cartoon or satire**—it's a straightforward **automobile tire advertisement** from Life magazine (page 809). The Republic Rubber Corporation of Youngstown, Ohio presents their tire product through earnest marketing claims rather than humor. The ad claims over 100,000 loyal customers and attributes durability to a proprietary "Prodium Process" that strengthens rubber, making tires resistant to cuts and chips with steel-like wearing quality. The visual shows two tires displaying the "Staggard Tread" pattern with "Maximum Grip with Minimum Friction." The ad emphasizes customer loyalty and repeat purchases as evidence of product superiority. While Life was a satirical magazine, **this particular page is commercial advertising**—common in publications of this era. There is no political commentary, caricature, or satire present; it's simply period product marketing using durability and reliability as selling points.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A Multitude Loyal to Republics As nearly as we can figure it, by reports from Republic dealers, more than 100,000 individual motor car owners are now regularly using Republic Tires. By this we mean buying them steadily, one set after another. The trade is not ofa shifting, changing character. It represents a solid, steady, loyal clientele. The increase of steady buyers during the past year has been very large. This is undoubtedly due to the rapidly spreading realization that Republic Tires do last longer. And the fact that they do last longer is due to the secret Frodium Process of compounding Republic rubber, The Prodium Process tremendously increases the strength of rubber. It makes it so tough that Republic Tires rarely suffer serious cuts or chips from the road. It imparts a wearing quality that is comparable to the wearing quality of steel. These are the things which Prodium Process does for Republic Tires. Recognition of them, in a man’s first set of Republic Tires, tends to make him a steady user of Republics. Republic Inner Tubes, both Black-Line Red and Gray, have a reputation for freedom from trouble The Republic Rubber Corporation Youngstown, Ohio Originator of the First Effective Rubber Non-Skid Tire—RepublicStaggard Tread Republic StAGGaRD (ar. 300. 18-23-1908 Tread Maximum Grip with Minimum Friction comicbooks.com